>
> >"Thus, our results show that pea seedlings develop an association that
> facilitates growth towards the light based on the occurrence of a neutral
> cue. http://www.nature.com/articles/srep38427


Thanks, Jim, for bringing this study to our attention.  It is an incredible
finding--that plants can learn, and hold "memories," despite their lack of
a brain (or even a nervous system).

This brings to mind that (at least some) animals can also hold memories in
their bodies, independent of their brain.  When I was in junior high
school, I attempted to replicate a recent experiment in which researchers
had found that planarian flatworms (which can regenerate a decapitated
head), could be trained to a conditioned stimulus.  And that if such
trained worms were decapitated, that the headless body, after regrowing a
head, retained the learned response (reviewed at
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/20/3799 ).

The question for the List is then, is the memory and learning of bees (or
beekeepers) restricted to taking place in the brain only, or can there be
some kind of somatic memory and learning?  This would be difficult to test
on beekeepers, since they don't survive for long after decapitation, but
could be tested on bees or ants.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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